Locked User Folders

[Thales750]

I had a major system crash this weekend and the User files where my .pst and favorites folder is located, has been permanently locked.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Thanks All,

 

[Vassago]

What version of windows are we running in? Are you an administrator on the computer/server? If so, you should be able to right click on the folder and under properties, take ownership, which would allow you full access.

Are you getting an error message in particular?

 

[Thales750]

Thanks Vas,

Window XP

Documents and Settings
c:\Documents and Sttings\Joe is not accesible
Access is denied

I tried to find an ownership tab or button and found none. Yes I am Administrator.

 

[Vassago]

Thanks Vas,

Window XP



I tried to find an ownership tab or button and found none. Yes I am Administrator.

I couldn't remember the exact steps without looking at it in XP. The directions can be found here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

How to take ownership of a folder
You must have ownership of a protected folder in order to access it. If another user has restricted access and you are the computer administrator, you can access the folder by taking ownership.

To take ownership of a folder, follow these steps:
Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).
Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
In the Name list, click your user name, or click Administrator if you are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators group. If you want to take ownership of the contents of the folder, select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
Click OK, and then click Yes when you receive the following message:
You do not have permission to read the contents of directory folder name. Do you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full Control?
All permissions will be replaced if you click Yes.

Note folder name is the name of the folder that you want to take ownership of.
Click OK, and then reapply the permissions and security settings that you want for the folder and its contents.


See if that lets you in.

 

[Thales750]

Thanks Vas,

That was the key.

But first, you have to go the View Tab in the Folder Options Dialog box and under advanced unclick "Use simple file sharing." (at the very botem of the list).


Missing Security Tab in Windows XP

If you have Windows XP, and your hard drive is formatted as NTFS, you can set permissions on files so that only users you specify can access them. However, if your Windows XP computer is not part of a Domain on a network, you may notice that there is no Security tab when you right-click a file and choose Properties. For some reason, the default for Windows XP computers that are part of a Domain is to have that visible.
For Windows XP computers that are not part of a Domain (they are stand-alone, or part of a workgroup), the default is to have the Security tab hidden.


To reveal the Security tab follow three simple steps:

1. Open Windows Explorer, and choose Folder Options from the Tools menu.
2. On the View tab, scroll to the bottom of the Advanced Settings and clear (click) the check box next to "Use Simple File Sharing."
3. Click OK to apply the change, and you should now have a Security tab when viewing the properties of a file on an NTFS volume.

 

[Vassago]

Thanks Vas,

That was the key.

But first, you have to go the View Tab in the Folder Options Dialog box and under advanced unclick "Use simple file sharing." (at the very botem of the list).


Missing Security Tab in Windows XP

If you have Windows XP, and your hard drive is formatted as NTFS, you can set permissions on files so that only users you specify can access them. However, if your Windows XP computer is not part of a Domain on a network, you may notice that there is no Security tab when you right-click a file and choose Properties. For some reason, the default for Windows XP computers that are part of a Domain is to have that visible.
For Windows XP computers that are not part of a Domain (they are stand-alone, or part of a workgroup), the default is to have the Security tab hidden.


To reveal the Security tab follow three simple steps:

1. Open Windows Explorer, and choose Folder Options from the Tools menu.
2. On the View tab, scroll to the bottom of the Advanced Settings and clear (click) the check box next to "Use Simple File Sharing."
3. Click OK to apply the change, and you should now have a Security tab when viewing the properties of a file on an NTFS volume.

Good call! I always had my xp machines on a domain. Glad you got that worked out.